Sharon, Israel's bulldozer in politics, dies at 85

FILE - In this Wednesday Feb. 7, 2001 file photo, Ariel Sharon, then Israel's Prime Minister-elect, looks up as he touches Judaism holiest site, the Western Wall, in Jerusalem. The son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says his father has died on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014. The 85-year-old Sharon had been in a coma since a debilitating stroke eight years ago. His son Gilad Sharon said: "He has gone. He went when he decided to go." (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)
The Associated Press

FILE - In this Wednesday Feb. 7, 2001 file photo, Ariel Sharon, then Israel's Prime Minister-elect, looks up as he touches Judaism holiest site, the Western Wall, in Jerusalem. The son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says his father has died on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014. The 85-year-old Sharon had been in a coma since a debilitating stroke eight years ago. His son Gilad Sharon said: "He has gone. He went when he decided to go." (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

"Everyone there should move, should run, should grab more hills, expand the territory. Everything that's grabbed will be in our hands, everything that we don't grab will be in their hands," he said.

He also played a leading role in the absorption of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Sharon's demonstrative visit to the Temple Mount, or Haram as-Sharif, soon followed. Palestinian riots escalated into a full-fledged uprising that would claim more than 3,000 Palestinian and 1,000 Israeli lives.

In February 2001, with the fighting continuing and last-ditch peace talks collapsing, Israelis grew deeply disillusioned and inclined to lay all the blame on Arafat. Yearning for a strong leader, they elected Sharon prime minister in a landslide.

Fighting continued throughout Sharon's first term in office and he was re-elected in 2003 to a second term.

Later that year, with Israeli towns suffering a wave of suicide bombings originating in the nearby West Bank, the bulldozers once again went into action as Sharon began building a barrier of walls and fences.

In late 2003, he unveiled his "unilateral disengagement" plan — withdrawing from territory he no longer deemed essential to Israel's security — without an agreement with the Palestinians.

He also confined Arafat to his West Bank headquarters in his final years before allowing the longtime Palestinian leader to fly to France in late 2004 shortly before his death. Arafat's death gave him a new, more moderate Palestinian leadership with which to deal.

In an earlier speech he dropped what for Israelis was a bombshell. For the first time he called Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza an "occupation" and conceded that an independent Palestinian state was inevitable.

"Occupation is bad," he said in front of cameras to his shocked Likud lawmakers.

Still, the Gaza pullback fell far short of anything offered by his predecessor or acceptable to even moderate Palestinians. While supporters say Israel is better off without involvement in Gaza, the withdrawal is widely seen as a failure in Israel because the territory was subsequently overrun by Hamas militants who went on to launch rockets at Israel.

Speaking Saturday, Olmert said Sharon's legacy was far more complicated than critics say.

"Arik was not a warmonger. When it was necessary to fight, he stood at the forefront of the divisions in the most sensitive and painful places, but he was a smart and realistic person and understood well that there is a limit in our ability to conduct wars," he said.

Domestically, Sharon became the latest in a long line of Israeli prime ministers whose terms were marred by corruption probes. He was accused of improper fundraising and accepting bribes, allegedly paid to one of his sons, from a prominent real-estate developer, but never charged. His oldest son, Omri, however, later served seven months in prison for fraud connected to campaign fundraising for his father.

Behind his gruff public demeanor lurked a dry wit, Old-World charm and a fondness for fine dining and classical music.